Biskind also shows that the new generation, which ushered in one of the most creative periods in the history of filmmaking, was unable to hold onto what it had conquered. And, as film writer Peter Biskind painstakingly notes in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, they did save it, and even, for a time, ran the place.īut not for long. Young, brash, and talented, with imaginations stoked by film school training, a liberated lifestyle, and, above all, a passion for moviemaking, the New Hollywood was welcomed in by the old Hollywood, whose leaders, though bewildered by the new breed's unconventional ways, were smart enough to let the kids take a shot at saving their industry. The startling success of Easy Rider (1969), following 1967's surprise hits The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde, showed Hollywood's old guard that although they had lost touch with their audience, there were some filmmakers who hadn't.

Into that creative and commercial malaise leapt a new breed of filmmaker. At the same time, attendance in general was sliding by 1967, average weekly movie attendance had dwindled to below half of early-1960s levels. The major studios, still mired in the big-budget mentality that was a reaction to the threat of television a decade earlier, were gambling more and more money on bigger and bigger productions-many of which, failing to connect with a changing movie audience, flopped miserably. Reviewed by Chris Foran (Bowling Green State University)īy the late 1960s, Hollywood appeared to be at the end of its reel.

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock'n'Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.

Easy riders raging bulls review